Theorycrafting, Computations, and General Observations from a Shadow Point of View

Quick Thoughts – MoP Patch 15640 Changes

Quite a large update was released today for the Mists of Pandaria Beta, including a lot of interesting changes for Shadow Priests. Here are some highlights (and initial impressions):

Void Shift isn’t a talent, so all Priests will now have it. I expect this to act as a new pseudo-tank cooldown when they take a large hit and have some sort of “must heal $VALUE of health in one spell casts to remove effect” capacity.

There is going to be some competition on the T3/Level45 talent position. Mindbender is effectively a secondreplacesShadowfiend, except it returns 2x the mana per hit and does 2x the damage per hit. Having to choose between it, our old friend Archangel, and strong newcomer From Darkness, Comes Light is going to be a tough decision that will probably come down to specific fights and fight mechanics to determine which is superior.

The change to Twist of Fate makes it a front runner for the T5/Level75 talent in multi-doting situations, especially those where adds die quickly or have focused death orders (Maloriak, Madness, Beth’tilac).

The nerf to Vampiric Touch isn’t unexpected, especially since it is the new primary source of our mana regen (and will be OP in multidot situations). Trade offs have to be made, and this is one I will gladly take (as opposed to being OOM).

Our T14 set bonuses are straight DPS gains. The 2P T14 Bonus increases the damage done by Mind Flay by 10%, while the 4p T14 Bonus increases the duration of Shadow Word Pain and Vampiric Touch by 3 seconds (AKA 1 tick). The 2P bonus will likely make our choice in the T3/Level45 talent tier easier since From Darkness, Comes Light has the potential to be a large mana drain if it procs often, but more importantly any time you are casting Mind Spike is a time when you could have been casting Mind Flay with an extra 10% crit chance. The 4P T14 bonus also plays in to this nicely since those extra 3 seconds means (roughly) 1 extra cast / 3 extra ticks of Mind Flay before you have to refresh DoTs.

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4 Responses to Quick Thoughts – MoP Patch 15640 Changes

Well remember, that 10% crit chance also means a shorter cooldown on Shadowfiend. Also, in the description of mindbender, it states its an ability to summon an improved shadowfiend… which may mean its not another shadowfiend, but a buff to the existing one. I can’t test it now however, as I can only log on the beta for a few seconds before it crashes out.

Also, I think the swap of Void Shift (an ability that has a much greater scope of utility) with Spectral Guise (Which I think may ultimately be dropped) was a good move.

Void shift is much more on par with the 87 abilities seen so far. I think the nerf to VT might be somewhat extreme, but we’ll see how things work out when classes get their real balancing when raid testing begins.

Good points, BM. I wasn’t sure if Mind Flay crits reduced Shadow Fiend cooldown in MoP so I excluded it.

If Mindbender is an improved Shadowfiend, that might throw it firmly in the ‘situational’ category for fights where you’re OOM a lot, or, need every little boost of DPS on a regular interval and use it as a timed DPS cooldown.

And I agree with you — I’m sure that the base damage+coefficients on nearly all of our spells are no where near final. It could be that Blizz is getting real feedback and statistics now that players are leveling to 87 and replacing all of their gear and that a 1/3 damage chop isn’t as extreme as it appears…or it could be them chopping off their foot when all they need to do is clip their toenails. Who knows at this point.

Tbh though, I honestly wouldn’t mind losing shadow apps if they got replaced by mobs similar to Nibelung or Gurthalak, that cast at range. It would have a nice coolness factor, have more immediate effects, even if the damage was still on par with mf.

I agree with a lot of folks that overall… orbs just don’t feel rewarding, since the effect doesn’t occur for 20 secs afterward… if they even hit at all. Plus, the mastery scaling isn’t anywhere close to the benefit MB has on live.